Wait, work pays off for Germantown Academy’s Longino
PHILADELPHIA >> On top of his team’s goals for the season, Germantown Academy senior Evan-Eric Longino had a couple personal things he wanted to accomplish.
The first was to stay healthy through the entire season, something that he hadn’t been able to do the first three years of his career. The second would build on the first. If he stayed healthy, then he could show he was capable of playing at the next level and find himself a home.
Longino stayed healthy and turned in a fantastic senior season, helped GA win its fifth straight Inter-Ac title and as a result, found the right place to continue his career at West Chester University.
“It was interesting, I didn’t think of West Chester until a week or two before I made my decision,” Longino said. “They called me up and they gave me a great opportunity. They were going to give me the opportunity to play point guard there and really try to improve my game at that position.”
Sunday, Longino and GA teammate Kyle McCloskey were part of the Suburban team that beat City 85-67 in the All-Star Labor Classic at Philadelphia University. Longino scored four points with three rebounds and an assist in the not-so-serious contest while McCloskey had seven points and five rebounds playing together for the last time under GA coach Jim Fenerty, who headed the Suburban team.
Injuries defined Longino’s early career at GA. In his four years, the senior had two knee surgeries, an arm surgery and numerous other minor setbacks that all added up to a lot of time lost on the court. It was definitely frustrating and at one point last season, Longino started to question if basketball was going to be in his future.
So he spent the end of last year up to the start of the season reshaping himself to handle the grind of a long season and combat injuries before they even happened.
“I got my legs stronger, I ran a lot, I did cross country, I swam with the swim team, took spinning classes and even did yoga to keep my body in shape,” Longino said. “I lost 25 pounds so I wouldn’t have so much weight on my legs. I did a lot of things to keep my body strong, I did a lot of stretching, lifted and worked out to keep myself right.”
It paid off. Longino scored 29 in his first game of the season to eclipse the 1,000-point mark then had a 40-point night to beat Lansdale Catholic early in the campaign. Things looked bleak for GA midseason after the Patriots dropped their first two Inter-Ac contests.
But behind Longino and McCloskey, they fought back and won out in the league to take a split with Episcopal Academy. GA’s season ended in the PAISAA semifinals against Westtown, but Longino was able to score and hang with the Moose’s collection of top-level Divison I players.
His strong final season drew plenty of interest, but most schools saw Longino playing the 3 or 4 positions where he’s most comfortable as a guard with the ball in his hands. West Chester came along a little later, but it was worth the wait.
“I ended up where I should be ending up,” Longino said. “It set up a great path for me and I’m looking forward to the opportunity and the experience. I’m very happy with the way our season went and the fact I stayed with it was like the theme of how our season went. We had a couple miracles happen and it accompanied all the work I did.”
RAPID RISE FOR CHELTENHAM’S PITTS
A couple of years ago, Cheltenham senior Trevonn Pitts wouldn’t have been a guy anyone pegged for an all-star exhibition game.
There’s no player who embodies Cheltenham’s return to relevance more than Pitts, the 6-foot-3 athletic whirlwind who can score from anywhere and makes his rim-rocking dunks look far too easy. Pitts was primarily a baseball player but played hoops on the side in rec league and as a way to stay in shape.
Eventually he found his way into Cheltenham’s open gyms and workouts and tried out for the team. He was raw, but he was always willing to work hard and Panthers coach John Timms will take any guy like that.
“I never thought about anything like this,” Pitts said. “I didn’t think about putting my name out there or anything, I was just playing to play and do something. I didn’t know it would be like this, getting invitations, giving us gear for free, being in the news, I was just doing it for the fun of it, the team and my school. The kids just wanted me to play.”
Pitts makes dunking look easy and he can splash shots from the perimeter but to get caught up in the highlights is to miss what the Mt. Airy native is all about. He is just relentless. Pitts broke onto the scene last year with Cheltenham’s varsity team, really his first experience playing organized and structured ball at any level.
He scored seven points on Sunday, hitting a 3-pointer and throwing down an pretty good-looking dunk but Pitts said he was just thankful to have been given the chance. With plenty of athletes on both teams, Pitts said he liked the up-and-down nature of the game and he just wanted to do his part to give the crowd something to feed off of.
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, but I’m blessed to be here though,” Pitts said. “I worked hard, so it was going to have to take me somewhere. It’s good to have the chance to play in front of these people and know I’m something instead of just not doing anything.”
The senior has received interest from Chestnut Hill and West Chester and Pitts said he wants to make a decision soon. For a player who never thought he’d get an offer or have a college coach say they would want him on their team, Pitts doesn’t take any of it for granted.
“Knowing they want me, it means I’m doing something good,” Pitts said. “I see in two years where it can take me, I think if I continue to work, in two more years how much further it can take me?”
Pitts was the new guy last year but this season, he was the only varsity player with major experience returning, so he became the team’s leader. The Panthers returned to states for the first time in a decade and Pitts said he took a lot of pride in being a part of that.
“If you continue to work hard, then anything is possible,” Pitts said. “A lot of people they’d say ‘you go to Cheltenham, you’re not going to get a lot of looks’ or ‘you’re at Cheltenham, they aren’t going to help you out.’ That doesn’t mean anything at all if you have people on your team that don’t hear that, just want to play ball and go get what they want. Regardless of what they say, it’s still going to be possible.”
HATBORO-HORSHAM’S MOORE STAYS FOCUSED
Hatboro-Horsham’s Clifton Moore thought everything was in line.
The 6-foot-10 forward committed to Indiana early in the school year, not wanting to drag the process out despite having nearly 20 Division I offers. Moore signed his letter of intent in the fall and it looked like he was ready to head to Bloomington until the Hoosiers fired coach Tom Crean shortly after their season ended in the NIT.
Indiana hired Archie Miller from Dayton and in the meantime, Moore asked the university for a release from his letter of intent to begin weighing his options. Moore said he was set to meet with Miller on Sunday night and talk to the new coach about his possible fit in the new-look Indiana program.
Moore said Sunday afternoon that Indiana was very much still an option and he credited the staff at Indiana for working with him and supporting him throughout this process.
A gifted shooter with a very good handle for his size, Moore is the definition of a stretch-four that fits in the more versatile styles of current players. It was his talent that got him on all those school’s radars in the first place, so Moore said he’s remained confident in his ability, no matter where he may end up.
“You just trust in your ability and want to get better every day,” Moore said. “It comes down to picking the right fit.”
Top Photo: Germantown Academy’s Evan-Eric Longino gets an uncontested layup during the All-Star Labor Classic on Sunday, April 9, 2017. (Rick Cawley/For Digital First Media)
